Shades of Grey

| Chapter Two

28.12.2014

| Chapter Two |

Bernadette felt a lump rise in her throat as she studied the man that sat before her. A handler, no doubt, one that had been following her for a few days now. She thought it was just luck that he’d appeared in the same places as her the first day, but come the second when he turned up in the same shopping centre shop as her, she knew it was no trick. He was stalking her and now, he had the guts to take a seat and inspect her with his squinted eyes.

He smiled at her. It was almost taunting, as if to say found you. He studied her face, his head on his shoulder as he studied what she now looked like. Pale, thin, she had the makings of a model in her bones, he could see that, yet even he knew she would not be stupid enough to publically display her new body like that.

Trying her hardest not to shake, Bernadette put her hands into her lap and averted her eyes downwards. He wouldn’t cause a scene in the middle of a crowded cafe, his words alone would be enough to convince her to stand and walk out of the shop with him. He knew she couldn’t stand to put the humans she so adored in danger.

‘How?’ were the first words that slipped out of her lips.

‘I have been following you,’ he replied, leaning back casually in his chair, a fork in hand to stab at his bacon. ‘You weren’t an easy girl to track down, still, London - clever idea.’

‘Why’s that?’ she whispered.

‘So many girls to choose from,’ he replied. ‘Bet it was hard to find one that was already dead though.’

She flinched from his words. ‘You followed me all the way from Ireland.’

‘I can’t let you out of my sights,’ the man snipped. She jerked her gaze up at him, scowling at the thought of him watching her the last couple of days alone. ‘I need you. One more body to go and you’ll be perfect.’

‘The last body was torture,’ growled Bernadette.

‘And I’m so sorry you had to meet a fate like that,’ he said. ‘It must feel weird, right? This is your second body after all. Don’t you miss your old skin?’

Bernadette turned her head away with a huff of anger. Anybody who was listening into the conversation would have thought them to be complete sci-fi nutters who were probably roleplaying in the middle of a crowded shop for the thrill of it. Talking about body-swapping and stalking, the idea of it sounded crazy to herself.

Looking down at her fingers, she moved them somewhat, as though she was playing an air-piano and frowned. The feel was wrong, but she still remembered what it felt like to be in her own body. The skin of it, the way it would move with her body when she was walking, touching things - it was everything she would miss.

Sighing, she clenched her hand angrily and closed her eyes to pass away his taunting laugh as he read her face. She wanted to smack that happy grin right off his gob; the only thing holding her back was knowing that if she was thrown out of the cafe, his goons outside would not take a second to sweep her up and take her off.

‘I miss it,’ she told him to satisfy his taunt. ‘I miss it a lot.’

‘Then why don’t you just come with me and get it back?’ he asked, brow raised. ‘I still have it, you know. It’s waiting for you.’

‘I can’t return to it,’ she growled at him.

‘I could help you.’

‘No, Malakai,’ she hissed.

The only advantage she had to his consistent nuisance was that she had to agree to go back to her old body for his plan to work and all the while she kept this body alive and avoided her final destination, he would hunt her down and try to keep her in his loop. He just had to catch her off guard to take this form from her and she knew he was close to doing so.